"Japanese New Year's Day"

Shougatsu is one of the most celebrated and important events in Japan. Shou-gatsu means January, but usually shogatsu is celebrated during the first three days up to a week of the year. Schools and work will be in holidays for 1 to 2 weeks, and those who are not living with the family members are bound for homecoming to reunite.

The origin of Shogatsu is based on the agricultural ceremony to welcome a god who would bring good harvest and prosperity to the people of Japan. The word Shogatsu was originally brought from China, and "Sho" refers to renewal, and thus meant to indicate the first month of the renewed year. In ancient Japan, Shogatsu was called "mutsuki" and refers to a new month where the family will pass with happiness.

The tradition of Shogatsu differs according to the regions, but in many homes the event is celebrated with a decorative "kadomatsu" and "shimenawa". Kadomatsu is a decoration where bamboo trunk and plum is placed with the intertwined pine twigs, and it is placed in pairs in front of the house gates. Shimenawa is a rope decoration that is place on the top of entrance door, and meant to dispel any evil. A large and small pieces of round rice cakes called "Kagamimochi" is placed in the small alcove of the room as an offer to the gods. Some unique events in Shogatsu include going to the temple for a new year's resolution or making wishes, making and sending Nengajou (greeting cards), and playing a game of "Hanetsuki" (sort of a traditional style badminton) or flying a kite.

A cooking unique to shogatsu is called "Osechi" . Osechi is typically prepared luxuriously, and prepared with long lasting foodstuffs in order to alleviate the workload of women during the new year. Within the Osechi, each preparation has it's special meanings such as a red snapper (tai for mede"tai"=happy) for the happiness, cod roe for the posterity, and a sea laver roll (kobu-maki for yoro"kobu"=cheerful) for cheerful times. Common to all these wishes are prosperity of the family and a wish for the wellness of our lives. The history of osechi cooking is 200 years old, and the preparation as we know now finds it's beginning during the last half of Edo period in imperial events, but later spread to public and gradually transformed by different regions. Nowadays people prefer to have an individual preparation and display according to their own family rather than by the book. In addition to osechi, a soup called "Zo-ni" is popular food to celebrate the new year. In Kanto region, zo-ni is made from square rice cakes (mochi) in a clear broth, whereas in Kansai region, it is made from round rice cakes in a miso broth. Like osechi, zo-ni preparation differs by region.

Shogatsu is a special event that celebrates the renewal of the year and to wish that the year would bring prosperity to life, while paying special respect to the deity and to other people. It is also an important event for Japanese people since as a homecoming event, relatives and family members afar will gather to pass a joyful time together in reverence to the tradition.

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Key Word

homecoming		foodstuff
reunite		alleviate
prosperity		workload
trunk		snapper
interwine		roe
twig		posterity
dispel		broth
alcove		afar
resokution		reverence